Boring Life
by DramaGeek
Summary: Still fighting the good fight some time after the final battle in “Not Fade Away” Spike comes across a girl that he believes to be a young slayer. Just a short scene.


**Boring Life**

**Summary:**

Still fighting the good fight some time after the final battle in "Not Fade Away" Spike comes across a girl that he believes to be a young slayer. Just a short scene.

**Disclaimer:**

I don't own anything. I reserve all rights to Joss Whedon (even if rights are actually due somewhere else) because frankly he is my hero.

**Author's Note:**

This is my first Angel fic. I think it's really just away of reiterating to myself that the characters I love in both these shows will never have the happily-ever-after I wish they could.

"Well that was… different." Spike was used to being covered in demon goop, sporting a board sword, even being in a playground at that hour of the night was not that unusual, albeit creepy. What was different on this specific night was that the thirteen-year-old girl he had come to rescue didn't really require any rescuing. In fact when the creature knocked the sword out of his hand it had been the child who had thrown it back to him, not to mention held the demon down while he delivered the final blow. Standing in the centre of abandoned swings, monkey bars, and slides, Spike couldn't figure out whether the girl belonged with the equipment or the monster.

"What was that?" The girl was also covered in entrails. She didn't even glance down at the carcass; she simply stared evenly at Spike, awaiting a response.

"That was a Shurac demon. Not one of the great thinkers of our time, but a rather strong bloke. This thing has already taken down at least three adults, so fair to say you've got some power yourself. I'd wager you're a slayer."

"I'm a what?" She looked almost offended until the gravity of the words set in. "Wait, that's a demon? What's a slayer? Who are you?"

"One at a time love, I got a killa' headache. Yes that is a demon. They're real by the way. Demons, vampires, witches, they're all out there. And you are a slayer. You have just joined a growing group of girls that defend the humanity from monsters, ghouls, that Timberlake fellow, you know, the evil of the world. Oh, and I'm Spike. Not much to know 'bout me, 'cept I help the helpless, just like your about to. Oh bloody hell!" He had fished a pack of cigarettes out of his pocket and cringed at the slim that covered them. In his attempt to wipe it off he missed the girls eyes darting between the demon's body and his own face; he missed the look of excitement that flash across her eyes.

"This is so cool! I knew something's been different with me the past few years, I just knew it…"

Her voice made him look up, "What the devil are you yammering about?"

"You don't understand; this is what I always wanted. The world we live in is just so painfully boring. I always wished there was magic and adventure and even monsters in the world. Are there other's like me? Are there wars between good and evil raging beneath the rest of the world's nose? Do we have to save the world?" She said it all with a smile, as if it was all a game.

"I don't think you are getting me, little Bit. You're not signing on for a Disneyland attraction. You have just joined the ranks of girls that can be assured two things: a painful and short life. Think about it. All the creatures that scared you as a child, all the things you no longer believe in and worse walk this earth freely, and now you get to spend the rest of your short life fighting them. No vacations, no other plans, this," he used the tip of his sword to point down at the fallen demon, "is the world you live in now. This isn't an adventure, isn't a love story, and there is no happily-ever-after. Most of the time there's not even 'happy'. I wouldn't wish what you're about to undertake on my enemy. Now that you're one of us you will fight, suffer, and die so that everyone else can complain about their boring lives."

The child broke eye contact with him and stared down helplessly at what remained of the creature. The air was perfectly still, even the sound of city seemed for a moment to be muted out, and in that solemn moment everything changed. As his words worked they way through her mind they seemed to push the innocence out, as if there was not room for both in her small body. When at last she looked back at Spike she was all grown up, "What happens to me now?"

"Well, it's up to you. If you choose this life I'll take you to people that will train you, teach you how to hone your skills, and how to stay a live a lot longer. And then you'll join us in fighting…"

"And dying." Spike felt a stab of guilt as he gazed into her now cold eyes. The life of a slayer was hard enough without news flashes from dead men. Why hadn't he let her keep her wonder?

"Well, nothing can happen until tomorrow anyway. I was thinking we should chase away the bitter cold with some ice cream, what do you say?" She smiled and followed him off into the night. The child she used to be remained at the playground, on the swing, watching two very strange people walk away: a century's old man that would stay young forever and a little girl that would never be young again.


End file.
